Egyptian liberals wary of Muslim Brotherhood

Tomorrow, the results of the Egyptian presidential run-off election supposedly will be announced. The voting ended a week ago, and the elections commission pledged to declare the winner three days ago. However, it later said it needs more time to review hundreds of complaints lodged by the campaigns.

In the meantime, the Muslim Brotherhood has led protests against the military, which has made known its reluctance to transfer power to the Brotherhood’s candidate for president if he wins. The protests reportedly have brought “tens of thousands” into Tahrir Square. In addition, the Brotherhood’s candidate appeared at a press conference, along with “Brotherhood stalwarts, public intellectuals, and youth leaders viewed as secular.”

However, the Washington Post points out that “the type of political heavyweights who could have made up a formidable front against the generals was conspicuously absent.” These liberals are “wary of the Brotherhood” and concerned “about the prospect of dogmatic government.”

Their concerns are well-founded. And the standoffishness of leading Egyptian liberals is additional evidence that the military’s wariness of the Muslim Brotherhood, and its willingness to thwart Islamists, is not to be despised.